NRL ambassadors bring a message of hope for miners in the Pilbara

Former NRL greats Sean Timmins and Josh Perry, are touring the Pilbara for the State of Mind campaign that encourages men to speak out if they are feeling down. The motto of the campaign is "It's not weak to speak".

Depression and suicide is not an easy subject to talk about and Sean Timmins shared his testimony to a group of miners at the Searipple camp this week in Karratha.

"One of our friends, he was a miner and he committed suicide so he was pretty close to me and my younger brother. I've seen a little bit of it and can see the affect it has on families," said Timmins who is encouraging men to talk more and open up.

The message is a timely one with the recent sad news about a FIFO worker committing suicide at Barrow Island.

"For me it's being able to look out for people with those kind of problems, and the hardest thing is to put your hand up yourself. But once you do that and know that you need help, it's mainly looking out and trying to speak to someone about it," he said.

Josh Perry visited schools and miners in Tom Price with the same message as well as a healthy holistic approach to life and is thrilled to see the popularity of rugby league in the Pilbara.

"We went to five different schools and spoke to them about how important it is to eat well, play well and stay well," he said.

NRL ambassadors, Petero Civoniceva and Alan Tongue will be in Port Hedland next week.